The present invention relates to the field of radio communication systems. More specifically the present invention is concerned with point-to-multipoint communication systems which broadcast data and with reception devices which receive the data and present the data for visual user perception while requiring little user involvement.
Many electronic devices including pagers, cell phones, portable phones, palm-top computers, lap-top computers, personal computers, televisions, and the like, can be configured to receive a moderate amount of data and present the data for visual user perception. However, these devices are designed primarily to achieve other goals and consequently achieve undesirable results when used to receive a moderate amount of data and present the data for visual user perception.
One problem with conventional electronic reception devices is a requirement for excessive configuration activities before data may be visually perceived by a user. During configuration activities the user obtains or goes to a reception device, turns the device on, tunes the device to a predetermined channel, positions the device so that a display may be viewed, launches a suitable program, or the like. Such configuring activities require an undesirable amount of user involvement for two reasons. First, user involvement beyond simply looking at readily available data from where a user happens to be located, represents a distraction from other routine everyday activities in which the user may be engaged. Second, electronic devices which require an undesirable amount of user involvement require a user to first recognize a need for the data, then require the user to configure the device so that the data may be viewed. Paradoxically, users often fail to recognize the need without first receiving some suggestion about the nature of the data. Hence, users routinely fail to perform the configuring activities needed prior to being able to view data a user would be interested in viewing.
Another problem with conventional electronic reception devices is the excessive cost. Costs often include two components: costs for hardware and costs for services associated with delivering programming content. Less expensive examples of conventional electronic devices, such as pagers and cell phones, tend to have small display screens suitable for portable paging and cell phone purposes where smaller is better, but too small for delivering a useful amount of other types of data, such as news. While pagers and paging services have been configured to deliver news snippets, the amount of news has been too small to be useful, and far too small to additionally deliver advertisements which might have served to defray some of the excessive costs. More expensive examples of conventional electronic devices, such as palm-top, lap-top, and personal computers have excessive hardware costs necessitated to achieve other goals than receiving a moderate amount of data and presenting the data for visual user perception. Once a population of conventional communication devices, such as pagers and cell phones, has been installed, then service costs are often held artificially high due to difficulties in changing delivery systems capable of transmitting programming content in a manner compatible with the installed base of devices.
Yet another problem with conventional electronic reception devices is related to keys or push buttons. In particular, some portable devices, such as pagers, tend to have an undesirably limited number of keys. Having only a few keys is desirable on a portable device because having fewer keys lessens the likelihood that keys will be inadvertently pushed during the jostling typically experienced by portable devices. On the other hand, having only a few keys makes manipulating and navigating through data presented on a display more difficult. Other portable devices, such as cell phones, tend to have more keys, but the keys are configured more to meet conventional telephony traditions than to set forth a relationship with displayed data. Consequently, using the keys to manipulate and navigate through displayed data is difficult. Moreover, if a portable device has more keys, then key locking features are typically implemented to reduce the likelihood of inadvertent key activation. Such key locking features must be negotiated by a user prior to manipulating the keys, thereby forcing even more user involvement before the device can provide a useful service for the user.
Yet another problem with conventional electronic reception devices is that they are often undesirably large and use magnetic storage. Such devices, while not necessarily suffering the problems of portable devices, are too large and expensive to be indefinitely mounted on a refrigerator, file cabinet, wall, or the like in a position where they may be easily viewed by users engaged in routine everyday activities. Even if a user were wanting to so-mount such a device, the use of magnets for convenient mounting on an upright surface is often prevented by incompatibilities between such magnets and the magnetic storage.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of the present-invention that an improved communication system for communicating common data to a plurality of reception devices is provided.
Another advantage is that a moderate amount of information is transmitted and displayed with a reduced amount of user involvement.
Another advantage is that data in the form of news, advertising and a clock is presented at a location where users engage in routine everyday activities.
Yet another advantage is that established competitive mass market delivery systems can be used to deliver programming content to reception devices at low cost.
Still another advantage is that a moderate amount of data may be provided to a user at little or no cost, with the majority of hardware and programming content and delivery costs being defrayed by advertising.
The above and other advantages of the present invention are carried out in one form by a point-to-multipoint reception device which receives displayable data and time-of-day data from a broadcasting data server. The device includes a radio frequency receiver which receives the displayable data and the time-of-day data from the broadcasting data server. A display screen is provided for displaying the displayable data and a clock. The displayable data is arranged in lines displayed horizontally and the clock is synchronized to the time-of-day data. A plurality of input ports are used to manipulate the lines displayed horizontally on the display screen. The input ports are vertically arranged adjacent to the display screen, and the lines are aligned with the input ports.